Interesting Article On Pet Behavior Issues

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Ideas | Linda Rodriguez McRobbie: When bad pets happen to good people - The Boston Globe

Would you euthanize a pet who has bad behavior no matter what treatment, calming sprays, behavior modification techniques, etc are tried?

The thing of it is, so many times that "bad" pets are given a chance, taken out of the original problem environment and rehomed, they turn into perfectly happy, calm and well behaved animals.

Furballsmom said:

The thing of it is, so many times that "bad" pets are given a chance, taken out of the original problem environment and rehomed, they turn into perfectly happy, calm and well behaved animals.

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Or the pet is mentally ill and meds can help.

I don't think most pet owners try hard enough. Like in the story, about the Shibas, I'm pretty sure some work with a trainer/behaviorist (and if they actually did what the trainer/behaviorist said to do. Most people don't!) would have improved matters tremendously. Some people are co-dependent with their pets and subconsciously don't actually want to fix the problem, and that's what those people sound like. They wouldn't know what to do with themselves if they weren't whining about their bad dogs.

But on the other hand. . .there are some pets who just can't manage to live with humans. Ideally, I'd like there to be enough sanctuary space for them to live their lives out in a safe environment. I don't think it's moral to kill animals just because they don't play human games. But. . .some, especially large dogs, are just too dangerous.

And I do believe that mental illness can be terminal, even in humans. There comes a point when the brain is just too broken.

One of my dogs would probably have to be put down if my lifestyle changed. She's not safe with most people, and having a lot of people around makes her anxious, so living in town would be bad. Maybe meds would help, and I'd definitely try that first. But she is mentally ill, I know that.

So. It's complicated. But I absolutely don't think people should dump their pet at a shelter to die alone with strangers (even though it worked out for the pets in the story, I don't think they were in the US, plus, do you think the journalist really wanted to focus on the depressing stories?). If they think their pet is beyond help, they should "man up" and take the pet to the vet to be PTS themselves.

I think a huge part of all the dog behavior issues is lack of exercise. People want to throw a ball 2 or 3 times or walk around the block for 20 minutes and call that sufficient exercise for the day. I hear so many people say they can't walk their dog because it pulls too much, yet they've spent zero time training it to walk on a loose leash or heel. They can't play fetch because the dog doesn't let go of the toy, yet they never trained it to drop it. People are getting progressively lazier and expect dogs to come out of the womb trained with low energy levels so they don't have to do any work. If you don't want to spend 2 hours a day heavily exercising your dog, maybe don't get a young, high energy dog. Adopt a senior that's cool with a lap around the block and lots of naps.